What Makes Hillary Tick..

Common Ground.

Coming from the divisive politics that has made America two countries really instead of one spirit, we need someone who isnt afraid not to be extreme on the left and on the right, but to say: no one is wiser than the other; we are all seeking the same things - a better country, and we can work together and get it.

I'm in a hotel with broadband that;s such a dream come true, and have been waltzing through Youtube all night. SO many videos t share (especially those DELICIOUS The View meltdowns - you should check them out), but listen to what Hillary has to say about the gap between pro-life and pro-choice

HERE

And she's not just saying it. She has for the past couple of years built such strong bi-partisan alliances that have won her praise, AND respect from both sides. Contrast this with rock-star Obamaa's ugly spat with the Republic campaign over the failure of a bi-partisan agreement HERE

TFA Nominee Party Pics!

It went down on the 12th of November (wednesday), at Waka Restaurant, Sanusi Fafunwa, Victoria Island, Lagos!


Comedian, Jedi, who emceed the event, digging it down with Entrepreneur of the Year nominee, Mosun!

Yours Truly with Linda Ikeji of the delicious legs!

The megastar's in the room!

Fela Durotoye - Deliciously Dapper!

It's Don Jazzy Again!

Guess who!lol

TY Bello with Fela Durotoye

You can see PLENTY of pics HERE

Hillary Finds Her Voice...

Funny, all the time Hillary was leading in the polls - I wasnt impressed. As far as I was concerned, she was only coasting because she was the most viable; not because of who she was/is.

Fire Mark Penn! I used to scream to myself. He wasnt doing enough to communicate the essence of Hillaryland - so that once Obama stepped up his opportunistic attacks, and abandoned the politics of hope with which he hoodwinked Americans desperate for change, her lustre began to fade...

For someone like me who reads up ACTIVELY on Hillary, and can boast of solid insight into her personality as much as public persona can allow, I know that she's the best choice for America, and if she would only show a bit of why she is the best - why her evolution into a political heavyweight is the biggest asset the Democrats need now ... she wuld be there. She needed to stop being formidable alone - she needed to start communicating ..

Well maybe I should say thank Obama and that irritant Edwards for their attacks! Now the Hill opens her mouth and she's talking ... her soul is seeping through - and I know she will regain her traction.

Hear her:

"That work means knowing when to find common ground and when to stand your ground," she said. "If you are too unyielding, then you are likely to end up with nothing to show for it. If you are too compromising, you may very well give up your principles and your values. You've got to find that balance." (Read the full piece HERE)

"You dont get change by hoping for it (read Obama and his romantic tales of change and hope), you dont get change by demanding it (read Edwards and his annoyingly slippery tirade against Corporate America), you get change by working for it."

The Des Moines Register endorsement captures the essence of Hillary, and is a must read for everyone who wants to be convinced on why she is THE BEST CHOICE. I was overjoyed that they captured so brilliantly the very thoughts I have about Hillary. The very thoughts that will make her win.

Hear them:
"Indeed, Obama, her chief rival, inspired our imaginations. But it was Clinton who inspired our confidence. Each time we met, she impressed us with her knowledge and her competence."

HERE is another Hillary story that wins my heart.

You will hear more and more about her and why exactly I can;t get enough of her as the days go...

Runaway blogger!

People,

SO MUCH has been happening since the last time I wrote on these pages, and it's such a shame that I've not had time to blog. I would have tried but my blogger has simply REFUSED to sign in since AND I havent been able to find space to go use somoene else's!! Seriously man. I get so increasingly busy I wonder how I manage to get it all together - people ask, but I truly, TRULY dont know! It's grace. Unmerited. Unlimited.

It's strange at this point - everything is going so well; it is just a dream come true for me! I am SO thankful. Unfortunately, the only blot on that is how I dicsover those people who are closest to you are sometimes the greatest stmbling blocks to ur moving froward and my gift to myself in the new year is to get rid of them slowly, painfully but surely - as I come to the painful fact that I can't allow anyone kill my joy!

The Future.. Awards, The Apprentice Africa, my NYSC posting etc etc - there;s SO much to say. The nominees party for the awards held this last wednesday and it was such a blast! Dbanj, Ashionye, DOn Jazzy, Linda Ikeji, Ebuka etc ... Hopeflly I will blog properly on that anedput put up pics.

However, I must say that for someone who is enamoured with Hilary Clinton it;s a shame I havent blogged much about her here. It's SO sad to see Hilary slipping in the polls - the only true liberal in that race (at least amongst the top 3), she is a remarkable, brilliant woman and will make such a formidable and successful leader. She might still win, sans the toga of inevitablility, and I certainly hope she does. EVerytime I read a bad story about her, I mourn, it hurts me like it's a personal loss! (Just had to blog that! More on that too later!)

I wil respond to ur comments before the day ends.

Sorry about the random blogging - I am in a rush to the airport AND there;s only 24 hours in a day, AND I have SO much to say!

Stay well people! (And kudos to the great spirits who have found the will t keep blogging! Btw, you DO know that naijafineboy is in town right?!)

Cheers!
Chuderi

Mikel Obi, Chimamanda, TY Bello, Don Jazzy, Others, Make The Future.. Awards Longlist for 2008!

After four weeks of grueling research and investigation, following the close of nominations in November, the Central Working Committee for The Future.. Awards is glad to release the definitive list of the brightest and best young people Nigeria produced in 2007!

With the excitement that has built up in the past few weeks – this is a list that young Nigerians from all around the world have been waiting for! Understandably so, since the list came out a bit later than usual this year. Adebola Williams, Operations Director for the awards explains, “This year the nominations we received more than tripled – it was truly massive! It’s no doubt due to the extensive national media campaign and tours – and we are most grateful to our media partners. And not just any nominations, we got a diverse and impressive pull. It was arduous wading through them, but what can we say really? We like to think it’s what you get when you do an awards like this that people have come to believe as credible and trustworthy.”

As usual, from the thousands of nominations (47, 234 this year) 120 nominees (8 per category) have been selected for the race towards the ultimate prize. In all the 15 keenly-contested-for categories, there are brilliant, high flying young achievers all between the ages of 18 and 31. It is fine cocktail of the famous and the seemingly obscure, the skilled and the talented, professionals and artistes – a truly balanced representation of the next generation.

From TY Bello, who is on the long list for two awards, Artist of the Year and Young Person of the Year, investment guru Boye Olawole and others for Professional of the Year, through the likes of D’banj and Psuare for Musician of the Year, Tosin Dekalu, Chika Nwobi, Funke Bucknor and co for Entrepreneur of the Year. And with others like Mak Kusare of BBC’s Wetin Dey, Joke Jaiyesinmi of Hip TV, Abdulkareem Baba Aminu of Daily Trust, Ayeni Adekule of Thisday, divas like Genevieve Nnaji, Oge Okoye and Ini Edo battling it for Actor of the Year, and for the first time ever, a sports personality, Mikel Obi, emerging, for Young Person of the Year, this is one list you have to read through!

The 4-stage judging process begins immediately, with the Independent Audit Committee, headed by Dr. Reuben Abati and having such credible Nigerians as Ms. Sienne Alwell-Brown, Mr. Dapo Olorunyomi, amongst 30 others screening through this list to decide who will be crowned as icons of the future!

Further information can be gotten on www.thefuturenigeria.com



THE LIST

Professional of the Year
Ike Ochonogor – FedEx
Temitope Ogunfayo – Procter & Gamble
Adebayo Omole – Matrix Solicitors
Boye Olawoye - Investment Banking Group
Lola Talabi – Cadbury Nigeria
Bode Makanjuola – Caverton Group
Omowale David Ashiru - Accenture
Noble Igwe – Virgin Nigeria

Artist of the Year
Karo Akpokiere
Jide Alakija
TY Bello
Ogunnubi Babadeji
Chukwuma Ngene
Seyi Taylor
Adolphus Opara
Abraham Oghobase

Music Producer of the Year
Alex Yangs
Don Jazzy
Mosa
ID Cabassa
Jeremiah Gyang
Wole Oni
Jokaynie
Mr. Daz

Screen/Programme Producer of the Year
Mak Kusare – AveHill
Michael Oyeyiola - Soundcity
Lamide Opere – Nigezie
Seke Somolu – Wetin Dey
Effiong Eton - Silverbird
Soji Ogunnaike – Real Time
Joke Jaiyesinmi – Hip TV
Nasir Muazu – BBC

Musician of the Year
Obiwon
Olu Maintain
Konga
Ashionye
Psquare
Dbanj
De Indispensables
Faze

Best Use of Technology
Adejuwon Saheed
Femi Odewunmi
Ayorinde Olalekan
Mubarak Mohammed Abdulahi
Icebox Studios
Olufemi Akande
Odufuye Bamidele
Seun Medunoye

Best Use of Advocacy
Emmanuel Etim
Toyosi Akerele
Temidayo Israel
Olatorera Majekodunmi
Adeola Akinremi
UNITeS
Oyebisi O. Babatunde
Amina Alli

Entrepreneur of the Year
Abiodun Ajibola - CGMIE Consulting
Tosin Dekalu – Lady Cobbler
Funke Awobokun – Cocktails In & Out
Funke Bucknor – Zaphaire Events
Gbenga Ashiru – Nebula Media
Bukola Adubi – Miccom Resorts
Chika Nwobi – Mtech
Mosunmola Umoru – Honeysuckles PTL

On-Air Personality of the Year
Adaure Achumba
Keke Adenuga
Nike Coker
Lamide Akintobi
Denrele Edun
Mike Magic
Gbemi Olateru-Olagbegi
Ebuka Obi-Uchendu

Journalist of the Year
Samson Adeoye – The Guardian
Ayeni Adekunle – Thisday
Azuh Amatus – The Sun
Abdulkareem Baba-Aminu – Daily Trust
Adedeji Ademigbuji – National Standard
George Elijah Otumu – The Week
Nonye Iwuagwu – The Punch
Julie Odia - Simply Woman

Best Use of Goodwill
TELD
Generation 4 Change
Do Sumthing Positive
Utopia
AIPA- Against Illiteracy Poverty and AIDS
Shade Ladipo
Omowunmi Agagu
Ngozi Ekeh

Entrepreneur of the Year (Beauty & Style)
Omoyemi Akerele
Toni Payne
Okunoren Twins
Muyiwa Osindero
Banke Meshida
Linda Ikeji
Lisa Folawiyo
Bunmi Oyeniyi

Actor of the Year
Genevieve Nnaji
Ini Edo
Funke Akindele
Ali Nuhu
Osita Iheme
Mike Ezuruonye
Oge Okoye
Nonso Diobi

Magazine of the Year
RISE
Juice
Bubbles
Applause
Dynamix
Acada
Tripz
Blast

Young Person of the Year
Mikel Obi
TY Bello
Oluchi Orlandi
D’banj
Chika Nwobi
Toni Payne
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Mubarak Muhammed Abdulai

TFA Organisers Grab Awards of Their Own!

Let's blow our own trumpet jare!lol

PRESS RELEASE

TFA Organisers Grab Awards of Their Own!
As if to further validate their credentials as resource for Nigeria’s biggest youth event, two of the directors of RedSTRAT, organisers of The Future.. Awards, have been declared winners of some of the nation’s most prestigious awards.

At Nigeria’s numero uno media event, the Nigerian Media Merit Awards, hosted by the Osun State Government on the 17th of November 2007, and in the presence of such veterans including Prince Tony Momoh, Chief Ajibola Ogunshola, Amb. Segun Olusola, Mr. Dele Adetiba, Mrs. Duro Onabule, Mr. Bode Alalade, amongst other judges, the RedSTRAT Creative Director, Chude Jideonwo, was named the Entertainment Journalist of the Year, for selected copies in market leader, True Love West Africa.

The youngest recipient of the 2007 NMMA, at 22, Jideonwo, who also got called to the Nigerian bar just two days before the awards, is a prominent freelance writer whose by-lines can be found in Time Out, Made, Farafina. Thisday, The Guardian amongst others.

Following from that, Emilia Asim-Ita, 20, has been declared one of the winners of the highly coveted Leap Africa Youth Leadership Awards, for her sterling work with what was for many years Nigeria’s leading youth talk show, Youth Talk (on the NTA). The awards presentation holds on the 22nd of November, in conjunction with the International Youth Foundation.

Incidentally, the two award winners are together the presenters of Rubbin’ Minds - a weekly talk show on the Channels Television Network; Sundays at 3pm that has become the most prominent media voice of young people on the national stage.

This is indeed more power to their elbows as they get ready to deliver another punch that will yet again win the nation’s admiration, setting standards and giving inspiration, through the event, to thousands of youth around the country.

It will be remembered that The Future… Awards, which the London Metropolitan University recently referred to as ‘the biggest youth award in Africa’ is being held in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Education on the 13th of January 2008 in Lagos. Further information can be gotten on www.thefuturenigeria.com


For further information or details, please contact me, Adebola Williams, on 08027064260. Best regards!

The newest Barrister/Solicitor in Town!

On wednesday, I was called to the Nigerian Bar.

On thursday, I was enrolled at the Supreme Court.

We thank God for all the progress He grants us. But at the risk of soundcing anti-social I was not excited about any of it, and though I kept up the act cause it was one day my dearest dearest mum was so proud about, I forbade most other people around me from making too much of it.

I see nothing to be proud of in graduating from college. Tens of thousands of graduates come out of Nigeria yearly, and at least 5000 people were called to bar with me this week - so what is there to be so proud of?

Now, my albino friend who, with both parents dead, left his village in Edo State, went through tears and blood, severe physical and financial difficulties, to graduate along with us, with a 2'1 Degree at University and another at Law School, and was the only Unilag graduate from our set to win a Law School prize is a story I can celebrate. And I do. Examples like his make it extremely difficult for anyone to have any excuses for failure.

What I AM excited about is the fact that with school done with and all the certificates receieved, the second and most important phase of my life begins. Let the REAL games begin!

Do YOU have what it takes?

From Biodun Shobanjo: 'You're Fired!'

The man called 'Godfather of Nigerian Advertising', Biodun Shobanjo has joined the A-list cadre of business moguls as the US' Donald Trump, the UK's Allan Sugar and SA's Tokyo Sexwale as a consortium of The Executive Group, Storm Vision and Bank PHB has unveiled him as CEO for The Aprentice Africa!

The debonair icon, Biodun Shobanjo, at 63, is Chairman of the Troyka Group, which is the holding company for Nigeria's biggest ad agency, Insight Grey, SKG2, Optimum Exposure, Media Perpective, MediaCom, Quadrant and Halogen, employing over seven thousand Nigerian men and women.

The Godfather is bringing this intimidating resume to bear in coaching 18 young African men and women on the principles of business, success and winning.

For him, "Winning is not the most important thing, it's the only thing."

Applications are now being accepted from young Africans all over the world - people with brilliance and street-smarts. Apply on www.theapprenticeafrica.com. Do you have what it takes?

Did Yaddy have to do anything?

Democracy ran it's full course. Yar'adua respected the democratic institutions that the contitution in its wisdom so structured, and didnt interfere. The people spoke, the members battled, he continued his own job of building the nation. And at the end Etteh went down - in a completely democratic process!

Did Yar'adua have to decend into the arena of battle? Did he have to interfere in the process? Did he have to soil his hands for democracy to work? Aren't those whole insisted he had to step in thoroughtly ashamed of themselves now?

Yaddy Hits Bull's Eye - Again!

Please can someone join me in giving applause to President Yar'adua for this resounding eloquence of intellect... HERE

Excerpt:

People forget that we had a similar situation in the past when, following a crisis which also bordered on allegations of corruption and abuse of office in the legislative arm, the then President, in a national broadcast, told the world that certain members of the National Assembly took bribes", he posited.According to him, "one of the two former House of Representatives members publicly indicted in that unfortunate episode, one is a Governor and the other a Senator", he noted.

He pointed out that "neither of them was even indicted in the report compiled by the same government before the April elections, raising questions about the propriety of executive intervention on an issue that is better internally resolved by the legislature or at best adjudicated upon by the judiciary.Yar'Adua who spoke through, his Special Adviser on communications maintained that his oath of office demands of him to act within the law at all times hence his resort to the dictates of the rule of law.

"The importance of the rule of law, which has become an article of faith for President Yar'Adua, and adhering strictly to the principle of separation of powers, lies partly in the arbitrary powers it denies to individuals and the discipline it imposes on all and sundry", he argued. PLEASE, EVERYONE, NOTE!

Tara's Day of Glory!

The Hall at Tara's 10th Annivesary ... breath-taking orange ...


Last sunday, Nigeria joined Tara Fela-Durotoye to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of House of Tara, and the launch of her new perfume range, Be Inspired. It was a beautiful evening with some of the most colorful people around ... people you want to share a moment like that with.

RedSTRAT was in charge of the event's media management, and we are proud of the success that it was - and prouder of the role model that Tara is - incidentally she was also Young Person of the Year 2007 at the Awards.

Plenty of pictures can be got on Purefoto or via Bella's blog

Not AWOL

I'm not AWOL. Facebook has stolen my heart, along with many other bloggers - but i am keeping faith people!

But please nominate for The Future.. Awards on www.thefuturenigeria.com. Let no one give any excuses that they didnt hear o!! www.thefuturenigeria.com www.thefuturenigeria.com www.thefuturenigeria.com

How are you all doing?

Cheers
Chude

Reuben puts his mouth where his money is...

Reuben Abati's force of perspective and clarity of thought are clearly what make him arguably Nigeria's most popular columnist. Last week, his piece on Big Brother Africa was spot on; and this week, his piece on the shape of banking and the plight of banking staff is truly FANTASTIC.

To take a quote:

"Banks must be told to stop soliciting for deposits like beggars on the streets. I once mistook a female banker for a corporate beggar, and I was going to give the poor girl N500 to get rid of her before I saw the T-shirt she was wearing.
The CBN should stop banks from sending their staff onto the streets to dance and entertain prospective shareholders. The banks must also be told to set realistic targets for their marketing staff (if they must set targets), design other
performance measurement benchmarks, and concentrate more on raising the quality of their service: the surest way to build customer confidence. The present methods dehumanise and endanger the lives of staff..."

YOu should read the entire piece. HERE

Apologies ...

I apologise for not explaining my absence, at least for those who have asked. I must also apologise for not posting the comments - I kept postponing and postponing because my connection has been slow, and when I finally decided, I accidentally deleted the comments!

It's The Future.. Awards and Rubbing Minds sapping my energy - but what you don't see of me here, you will soon see, both here and on The Future's website.

If you can, please resend thh comments and I will post. And I will do my darndest to update, so don't leave o!!

Chude

IT’S A BUMPER, BUMPER PACKAGE!

This weekend of our nation’s independence celebrations, young people in Nigeria will be kept very busy, if not directly, then by extension, as RedSTRAT presents two of its major events back to back in its relentless bid to inspire a generation of young Nigerians into taking charge of their destinies!

On Sunday, the 30th of September 2007, in conjunction with Channels Television, it will be hosting the initially postponed Rubbin’ Minds talk shop, which will be broadcast live at 3pm on the Channels TV Network.

The event – to be held at Planet One in Lagos – is for a select 200 young people between the ages of 16 and 30, who will gather to discuss ‘President Yara’adua’ and Co: First Impressions – an avenue to effectively inject a strong and genuine youth component into national discourse.

To attend that event, or to recommend someone to attend, send an email to redstrat@thefuturenigeria.com.

The very next day, 1st of October, as has become the tradition, RedSTRAT will be formally kicking off the 2008 edition of Nigeria’s biggest youth event. “The Future..” Awards, at an exclusive media and VIP event at rave venue, SixDegreesNorth in Ikoyi.

A cocktail event that sees a gathering of some of the brightest and best upwardly mobile young Nigerians it is an opportunity to bounce the plans for the next Awards directly off a cross-section of its target. At this pre-event cocktail, the promos and campaigns will be unveiled, alongside the new categories, revised criteria, sneak preview of the plans for the event and its build-up, media partners and sponsors, and the guests are free to ask questions, record observations and make suggestions.

About 25 seats are still available – if you think you or someone you know qualifies to fill in the slots, send an email to chude@thefuturenigeria.com, with name, age, and details of occupation.

The organizer of these events, RedSTRAT, with its national spread and mainstream relevance, has quickly established itself as the first name on the lips when it comes to young people in Nigeria, relentless in its bid to act as principal change agent for its generation, presenting positive role model and creatively engaging the hearts and minds - and it is resolutely committed to this imperative. Further information on all the events can be gotten on www.thefuturenigeria.com

It’s An Assembly of Heavyweights Judging The Future… Awards 2008!

In a matter of days, the three-month journey towards Nigeria’s biggest youth event “The Future…” Awards 2008 (holding on the 13th of January 2008), in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Education, will formally kick off - a journey that many across the nation and beyond are certainly looking forward to with excitement.

But before the formal launch at an exclusive media and vip event on the 1st of October, the organizers can reveal the names of the distinguished Nigerians who have made the list of the Independent Audit Committee, judging the awards.
As has become the tradition, TFA prides itself on having perhaps the most transparent and rigorous Nigerian awards process, where nominees go through four stages that span 12 weeks - and the Audit Committee is the most important arm in this process. Therefore, it is understandable that, each year, part of the excitement of the awards is to see who would make the committee.

Yet committed to making the process even more fool-proof, the committee has been enlarged to a membership of 30, drawn from across every sector of the Nigerian society, through an elaborate selection process by the Central Working Committee.

From the corporate environment, there is Dr. Yemi Osindero, COO of Virgin Nigeria, Mrs. Funmi Omogbenigun who heads corporate communications in MTN and Siene Alwell-Brown of the NLNG – who is engaging in her first public/media activity after a long hiatus from the public space.

From the media there is Mr. Seye Kehinde, publisher of City people, Mr. Simon Kolawole, editor of Thisday, Mrs. Eugenia Abu of the NTA, Tajudeen Adepetu, who runs Soundcity amongst others in his massive TV network and Dr. Reuben Abati who is also the Chairman of the Audit Committee and has so been for three years now.

Iconic entrepreneurs, Tosan Jemide of Cakes by Tosan, Mrs. Mo Abudu of Vic Lawrence & Associates and Bolanle Austen-Peters of Terra Kulture also make the list.

Advocacy sees Mrs. Hafsat Abiola-Costello, Dr. Judith Burdin Asuni, Ms. Nike Awoyinka of Common Ground Productions and Mrs. Ndidi Nwuneli of LEAP Africa, and from government there’s Hon. Abike Dabiri and Mr. Dapo Olorunyomi, Chief of Staff in the EFCC.

In fashion, there are two doyennes, Ms. Ruth Osime who sits atop Thisday Style and Mrs. Data Okorodudu, Creative Director of JD7; and from entertainment there’s the legendary Onyeka Onwenu (MON), ace comedian, Ali Baba, and AMAA Awards chief, Peace Fiberesima.

And to top off the list are Ms. Bennie Uche from the US Consulate, human resource guru Fela Durotoye, Mr. Tunde Soyinka, Creative Director of IMS, sports icon Chief Segun Odegbami (MON), Dr. Emman Shehu Usman, Farafina publisher Muhtar Bakare, and Mrs. Funke Aboyade who is managing partner with Babalakin and Associates.

The Board of Trustees also sees new heavyweight additions including Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, Chief Rasheed Gbadamosi, and Chief Olusegun Osoba, who are joining the likes of Prof. Jadesola Akande, Prof. Pat Utomi, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, Dr. Reuben Abati, Mr. John Momoh and Hon. Nduka Irabor. Further information on the event can be gotten on www.thefuturenigeria.com

There’s no doubt about it, this 2008 edition, “The Future…” Awards is set to take the nation by storm!


The List

 Dr. Reuben Abati (Chairman, The Guardian Editorial Board)
 Dr. Yemi Osindero (COO, Virgin Nigeria)
 Mrs. Sienne Alwell-Brown (Head, Corporate Communications, NLNG)
 Mr. Dapo Olorunyomi (Chief of Staff, EFCC)
 Mr. Seye Kehinde (Publisher, City People)
 Ms. Onyeka Onwenu (MON)
 Mr. Tosan Jemide (CEO, Cakes by Tosan)
 Hon Abike Dabiri (Member, House of Representatives)
 Mrs. Mo Abudu – (CEO, Vic Lawrence & Associates/ Inspire Africa)
 Chief Segun Odegbami (MON)
 Dr. Judith Asuni (Executive Director, AAPW)
 Mr. Simon Kolawole (Editor, Thisday Newspapers)
 Mr. Fela Durotoye (CEO, VIP Consulting)
 Mr. Tajudeen Adepetu (CEO, Consolidated Media Associates)
 Mrs. Funmi Omogbenigun (Head, Corporate Communications, MTN)
 Ms. Ruth Osime (Editor, Thisday Style)
 Mrs. Hafsat Abiola-Costello (Executive Director, KIND)
 Mrs. Funke Aboyade (Managing Partner, Babalakin & Associates)
 Ms. Bennie Uche (Information Officer, US Consulate)
 Mrs. Eugenia Abu (Head of Presentation, NTA News)
 Ms Nike Awoyinka (Publicist, Common Ground Productions)
 Dr. Emman Usman Shehu (The Presidency)
 Mrs. Peace Fiberesima (CEO, AMAA Awards)
 Mrs. Data Okorodudu (Creative Director, JD7)
 Mr. Alleluya Atuyota Akporobomeriere (CEO, XQZMOI)
 Mrs. Ndidi Nwuneli (Executive Director, LEAP Africa)
 Mrs. Bolanle Austen-Peters (CEO, Terra Kulture)
 Mr. Muhtar Bakare (Publisher, Farafina)
 Mr. Tunde Soyinka (Creative Director, IMS)

Rush Hour 3 v MY Rush Hour Week!

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO (That's the sound that comes when you blow out air out of your mouth - it's actually the elder cousin of a sigh of relief).

I haven't slept at home for an entire week!!! Just got back a couple of hours ago - and I tell you: have I ever been so glad to see my room - and my bed!!!!

It's all been about the new Rubbing Minds we were working on - shuffling between our new office space, the Channels TV studios (you know you've almost become staff when the security just waves you in!) and Planet One - and I was even the one doing the least work! I felt so sorry especially for Adebola, our director of operations who is the one directly in charge of this project. But we managed to survive it - and then a couple of days ago it was cancelled, but for very good reason. Channels always wants stuff to be perfect, and that is always a positive thing; except that, as I joked, too much 'perfection', can be a bad thing!

You'll be the first to know of the new date (in September) etc etc. Myself and Adebola were actually on Sunrise (I've ALWAYS wanted to go on Sunrise!) yesterday to talk about the postponement.

In between all of that though, I was able to get - AT LAST! - internet on my computer (everyone's gotten it before me: my excuse of 'no time yet' was beginning to sound stupid even to me!), had lunch with fellow blogger, Linda, and then (the big one) was able to go see Rush Hour 3!!!

Now, my friends at rotten tomatoes I have always agreed with on each and every fantastic movie (Notes on a Scandal, for instance) and the truly horrendous (Are We Done Yet picks up that trophy for now), but on Rush HOur 3 which got all of 13percent there ARE wrong! Add that to the fact that I went into the movie armed with cynicism and all the righteous snobbery of a movie critic, and then to have laughed so hard and almost at every turn?! Yes, Jackie Chan's face might be looking like a ton of bricks right now, and his mate isnt looking as dandy, but they still know how to tickle - and that whole subtle but very telling sub-theme on how America is the country that 'kills for no reason'? Brett Ratner certainly did the right thing in squeezing the last juice from teh franchise. Brilliant Brilliant Brilliant. If you havent seen Rush Hour 3, it's still at the cinemas (at least, Silverbird) - HURRY!!!

Speaking out what ele's good; it's a shame that the series Commander-in-Chief, only did one series before it was pulled off. Emilia was raving about it, cos she bought the series after she saw Oprah raving about it, and I was hooked all night until I had seen ALL 18 episodes and it is splendid! President Allen Mackenzie is perhaps the most brilliant character ever created.. Only worry though, seeing as after one episode, the viewers interest shifted (people blame ABC for 'mismanaging' the series, whatever that means) would that be a metaphor for how America sees Hilary Clinton's candidacy? I most certainly hope not.

And once more I say: Rush Hour 3 was FANTASTIC!

My week in a nutshell! Yours?

Chude

Rubbing Minds: Update..

Channels Television sincerely apologises that the brand new version of Rubbing Minds in collaboration with RedSTRAT will have to be postponed.

This is both to align the event to the sponsorship it has attracted as well as to ensure the event meets the high standards the brand has set.

This is the first time RedSTRAT has ever postponed an event so we can assure everyone that by the time we unveil the new Rubbing Minds, it will be clear why this postponement is necessary.

We apologise most sincerely to everyone who has already made plans towards the day ... The new date in September will be communicated shortly.

For further information: redstratnigeria@yahoo.co.uk and redstrat@thefuturenigeria.com

Rubbing Minds Gets Reloaded!

On the 9th of September 2007, Nigeria’s premier news TV Station, Channels Television and leading marketing communications firm for young people, RedSTRAT (organizers of “The Future…” Awards) will be presenting to the nation a brand new version of the quarterly event, Rubbing Minds.

In its second year now, Rubbing Minds prides itself as the only event of its kind in the country. Designed in the fine tradition of modern ‘town-hall’ meetings, it has quickly distinguished itself as the only avenue for young people from a vast cross-section to discuss issues around the social, economic and political, as well as to network and synergise.

Unlike other talk sessions that only manage to draw the attention of students or youths in advocacy, Rubbing Minds has achieved A-list status with its rare ability to pull a qualitative mix - from the corporate environment, business, fashion and style, music, comedy, the academia, the media, politics and advocacy. Rubbing Minds sees the elite of young people coming together to discuss of all subjects – Nigeria.

According to RedSTRAT’s Director of Operations, Adebola Williams, “the idea of Rubbing Minds is to make it cool and hip for young people to discuss the issues that ultimately define them, as young people, and as Nigerians. We took up this challenge because of our impatience with the way young people in their 20s and early 30s are being engaged. The fact is, the more you keep presenting those kinds of sessions in a boring, clichéd monotone, the more you alienate a generation of young people who have been exposed to the modern savvy of international debate and politics.”

The first edition of the new Rubbing Minds will seek to counter-balance the expected frenzy that will accompany the 100 Days in Office celebrations across the country. Themed ‘First Impressions’, it will reflect what young people from across Nigeria think about the new president, the governors, and the steps they have taken in the 100 days since May 29. Expected to be as intellectually charged as always, the organizers have promised that the event will maintain its easy ambience and the delicious mix of wit, candor and irreverence that have earned the event its credibility and acceptability.

The event is billed to hold at rave venue, Planet One, in Lagos, playing host to 250 selected young people, as well as three special guests to be revealed in a few days. Even better, this session will be broadcast live (4pm) on the Channels Television network – with a scheduled repeat broadcast. This is certainly unprecedented!

Explaining the new partnership with Channels Television, Williams reveals it was the CEO, Mr. John Momoh “in that unobtrusive way that is his trademark, who, having encountered Rubbing Minds, decided it was to time to put it on a bigger, more accessible platform, so that Nigerians can effectively move beyond empty clichés and begin to really integrate the voice of young people into national issues and the way our country is run. Indeed, people like Mr. Momoh, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, Prof. Wole Soyinka, Chief Rasheed Gbadamosi, Mr. Tayo Aderinokun and others who have encountered the work that RedSTRAT does for young people and have decided to give it their full support prove themselves as authentic inspiration for the new Nigeria we keep talking about.”

With the irresistible blend of Channels Television’s professionalism and unwavering commitment to detail, combined with RedSTRAT’s savvy and popularity amongst the youth population nationally, the excitement as we all count down to the reloaded version of Rubbing Minds on the 9th of September 2007 is almost breathless!

Enquiries about the event can be made to redstratnigeria@yahoo.co.uk or redstart@thefuturenigeria.com, and details can be gotten on www.thefuturenigeria.com.

P.S: 40 seats are left open: if you wanna attend, please send a mail to chude@thefuturenigeria.com with your full name, age, and occupation.

Soludo-cious!

Our dear 'banking wizard', Prof. Charles Soludo, just got a crash course on the ultimate Nigerian psychology: we are never too star struck.

People are already saying he didn't 'consult widely', and that would be the reason this policy fell flat, but they forget he also did not consult widely on banks consolidation as well as last year's new naira notes and coins (!). But we left him well alone because in the first situation, there was a villian common to us all, the almighty banks, and we needed a hero - and there came SoLUDO to save the day! By the second time we decided to reward him with benefit of the doubt, BUT by the third time, our psychology also bolstered by a President who listens, we said to the 'wizard': 'enough already'!

Of course people still respect Soludo - with distinctions from BSc to PhD who wont?! But then he must learn the obligation of oiling that well of respect constantly and nothing dries that kinda oil faster than a 'know-it-all' attitude - ask Obasanjo, ask Obasanjo, ask Obasanjo!!

In the meantime, don't you just feel admiration for this our President - rushing to stand behind Soludo, before all the hawks wanting his head take advantage of this one mistake? As Yaddy (spoken through Segun Adeniyi, who, I must say again, is doing brilliantly well!) rightly said, it's not the man's competence that is in doubt. It's just a matter of ... mmm, attitude adjustment. Yar'adua just trips me!

Chude

P.s (An Eye on BBA): Can you believe that Lerato actually saved Meryl (!!) and put 'MY' Maureen on the Eviction Chopper?! Incredible! So it appears we are going to lose the 'wondrous' and 'fearful' sight of Jeff and his 'exercises' so soon... or is it just me?

It's back to the 'I'm Sorry' Days o!!

Yes o - so sorry people! It's been C-R-A-Z-Y as usual since I returned to Lagos - make no mistake o, I LOVE it. It's been breathless... with the meetings after meetiongs after meetings ... after meetings after meetings after meetings ... in fact, I just came back from one of those fun 'consultancy' meetings where brilliant minds meet and gossip, exchange ideas, be witty as hell to people who actually understand irony, and eat brilliant food in between their brains being picked! And looking forward to another session tomorrow!

I got all the low-down on BBA in the past week from the four delightful women whom I shared the meeting with (I was the only guy as usual - that seems to be one of the joys of my life! I should blog about that soon), which is good since I havent been able to watch since I came back! Oh have I mentioned that I have a crush on the delicious (thank you very much, I have a right to my tastes!) Maureen?!?!

There's been plenty of drama too - I hope to blog properly about all of that before the weekend ends...

Don't you just love Lagos! (Apart from the hold-ups, which I haven't experienced yet, thank God!)

Sorry about the exclamation marks everywhere - it's just how i'm feeling at the moment! Oh by the way, dont forget to join us for laspapi's The Jero Plays this sunday at the Terra Kulture...

How was your week?
Chude

I am posting something that was sent to me to post: try and read it guys

Subject: Please help save lives...

Hello,

Please help me save lives.

How?
By donating blood.

Why?
Because people are dying daily from unavailability of
blood. And it is not for want of our trying.

A high percentage of maternal deaths (i.e. death
during pregnancy and childbirth) is as a result of
bleeding that could easily have been treated by prompt
blood transfusion. Just last weekend, I had 2 very ill
women who needed blood, whose blood group was not
available in the hospital. It was only by the
vigilance of the head of haematology (blood services)
who called all over the state to get blood that these
women's lives were saved. I have hundreds more of such
stories of women who were not so lucky.

How can you help?
Please make a date to come and give blood. A healthy
adult can give a pint of blood (500ml or one third of
a big bottle of Eva water) every 6 months with no
problems whatsoever.

Also, please mobilise friends, family, employees,
colleagues, church members, mosque members, etc to
donate now AND REGULARLY. The muslim associations in
the Luth community are excellent and donate blood on a
regular basis.

Will it disturb your schedule and is it safe?
It takes less than 45 minutes and is also done on a
Saturday. The hours are Monday - Saturday 8am to 6pm,
Blood Bank Lagos University Teaching Hospital,
Idi-Araba, Lagos. If you can organise more than 10
people in your location, arrangements can be made for
people to come out to your office, etc.

I gave blood on Wednesday the 22nd and i went on to
continue working for the rest of the day. You need to
drink a lot of fluid after and refrain from strenous
exercise or activity. The only discomfort is the
slight pain from an initial finger prick (to ascertain
you have enough blood in you) and the needle that goes
into your to take the blood. I am sure you will agree
that the benefits far outweigh the inconvenience.

Sorry about the long email but please give your blood
and save lives. Because you can.

Please contact me if you have any questions. Thank
you.


Bosede


Dr Bosede B Afolabi
Consultant/Senior Lecturer
Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology
College of Medicine/Lagos University Teaching Hospital
Lagos, Nigeria.

Soludo-cious!

Our dear banking magician, Prof. Charles Soludo, just got a crash course on the Nigerian psychology: we are never too star struck.

People are talking about how he didnt 'consult widely' and that is why this policy fell flat, but they forget that he also did not consult widely on consolidation as well as last year's new naira notes. But we left him because in the first case, there was a villian common to us all, the almighty banks, and we needed a hero - and there came SoLUDO ... by the second time we decided to give him benefit of the doubt, and by the third time, equally armed with a President who listens, we said to him: 'enough already'!

Of course everyone still respects Soludo - with distinctions from BSc to PhD who wont?! But then he still needs to oil the well of respect constantly and nothing dries that kinda all faster than a 'know-it-all' attitude - ask Obasanjo, ask Obasanjo, ask Obasanjo!!

In the meantime, dont you just feel admiration for this our President - rushing to stand behind Prof. Soludo, before all the hawks wanting his head take advantage of this one mistake? As he rightly said, it's not the man's competence that is in doubt. Yar'adua just trips me!

Chude

p.s: Can you believe that Lerato saved Meryl (!!) and put Maureen on the Eviction Noose?! Incredible! So it appears we are going to lose the 'wondrous' and 'fearful' sight of Jeff and his 'exercises' so soon... or is it just me?

Whazzagwan!

It's funny - I am in Abuja, with my favourite 'aunty' and 'uncle' couple, trying to take life easy after the exams, not yet ready to face Lagos and it's hold-ups, watching Big Brother Africa like it's going out of season, reading everybody's blogs, dropping comments here and there, staying on the internet almost 24-7, waking and sleeping and lazing, but can't seem to find anything to blog about...

And I refuse to blog when I dont't really have anything to say!

Lest I forget, thanks for all the good wishes. Hope the week is treating you well?

*wink* (cos life IS beautiful!),
Chude

P.S: Oh by the way, I think the new CBN policy is wack. Hopefully I'll say why when my brain ceases to be lazy!

'Keep Trying To Save Africa. Please.'

In today's Thisday, there's my rejoinder to my friend, Uzo Iweala's article 'Stop Trying To Save Africa'.

It's not short, so I will just post an excerpt here:

Until our own people know as much as Bill Gates, Angelina Jolie, or for that matter Madonna do about the specifics of our realities, they might just as well hold their peace and get up to speed. Even more to the point, if some of us go beyond ourselves, we would actually find out that people like Bono, through DATA and Edun and other such ideas, are doing exactly as we “ask”: promoting trade alongside aid.

If it has indeed become fashionable for the West and its celebrities and magazines to “save Africa”, then all we should feel is gratitude. Because the real tragedy is that while college students in America, no matter how misguided, spend their spare time doing whatever they can to draw attention to African causes, ‘real’ Africans who school and work in America and Europe do little or absolutely nothing, sitting pretty and advancing their careers and life, and then turning around to look Bono and Bob Geldof in the face and say “don’t insult my intelligence”.

What grandstanding!

As a matter of fact, it is my sincere hope that Africa continues to be more and more fashionable...

You can read the complete piece HERE.

And then, at the risk of being accused of doing a 'Yar'adua' - I think the President's Spokesperson, rising from the initial stumblings, has settled in quite well. Today, he explains in The Guardian the President's decision to over-turn himself and the beauty of accepting 'correction' HERE

Can I get a witness!!!

I’ve been called a 'winch' many times for my ability to keep things to myself until they are done or passed. It comes from being an only child. It comes as a shock usually because it’s such a contrast to my usual talkative tell-all self.

Well, for the past 8 days, even as I blogged and ‘facebooked’; I have been writing the most intensive exams of my life. An exam EVERY SINGLE DAY for the past six days – and have been under the most horrific stress that is possible; that I have ever gone through.

I have had just the most basic sleep, my room has been in disarray (I re-christened it the War Room), my back aches, my head aches, my mouth is almost dry … yet I am just… happy.

All over the world, they say the Bar Exams are feared. Well in Nigeria they must certainly are! Typically, I entered these exams with self-conscious fear and trepidation and a complete state of unprepared-ness (as usual), but they were … A BREEZE! I say this without any sense of arrogance or self-augmentation; it is simply a matter of fact. A matter of God’s grace. The Grace of God and His Grace alone!

People! Listen!! The race is truly not for the swift, no frigging way! It;s time and chance and God and God and God alone that happens to us all. I believe in God! Yes, I believe! I am a witness! And I went to church for the first time in three weeks now to sing and dance and shout and give my first-fruit to him, because it is his work and his work alone. The past 8 days have been His, for His Glory and for me to bask in.

I can’t believe it is over. Law school is over! And I can’t believe how beautifully it all ended. I will most likely tell the story on this same pages very soon. But for now I am just too too too too too over the top with happing, too too too too too intoxicated with joy, tooo hyper, tooo grateful to God. I am screaming as I write – everyone in the Abuja campus of the law school is screaming. There is such palpable joy. It is the most exhilarating sight! I am screaming the most. I have even lost my voice!

All I feel is the most wholesome, beautiful, filling, empowering JOY.

Father, I thank You. This is unmerited favour. And for it, there is none more unworthy than I. Indeed, there is none like You.

E ba mi yin oluwa logo o!!!!!!!!!

Presidential Retreat

Over the past few weeks, I have been accused, often times in jest-layered seriousness (but with that tinge of seriousness all the same) both on and off this blog of liking Yar'adua too much. Of collecting bribe (as if!) and other such.

Of course, I have no apologies. I have spent the last eeight years having the most pungent hatred against my President, and it is a refreshing, nay empowering change to be able to feel the exact opposite emotion for another occupier of that office. I like Yar'adua. And I like him fiercely.

But as with those I love, I do with my eyes wide open. Tough love is always the best. Which is why I am not certain how exactly to feel about the whole AG-EFCC wahala.

On the one hand, who wants a leader who feels that he is so wise that he can neither be wrong nor corrected (people lost their jobs and referrals for that under the Emperor!), yet on the other hand, it is a bit disconcerting to witness something eerily close to hastily made decisions being reversed hastily.

Nor is an ability to at least defend your stand that attractive. While we are on that subject, I still cannot get over the fact that he could not represent Bode Augusto as a Ministerial Nominee - a man who was easily the more brilliant of the pack of nominees. Under Obasanjo, people were disgusted when he presented people like Borishade more than thrice after rejection but only because there was no exceptional circumstance for such insistence, here Nigeria NEEDED Augusto's brilliance as sorely as an oasis in the sahara.

But Yar'adua let it go. Just like that. And then this - yet another decision that came from sound reasoning; yet he just beat a hasty retreat like an orphan.

Or would my confusion be because I supported the move to reign in the EFCC? Anyone who knows me well would know that the excesses bordering of destructive self-righteousness as well as transparent double-standards of the EFCC in the past 4 years were perhaps my greatest pet peeves. And by the time Obasanjo left with his moral baggage, he took with him a huge chunk of the respect I had built for Mallam Ribadu. For me, the rule of law is more sacrosanct than any quixotic anti-corruption saliva-spray, so Yar'adua deciding to bring that organ strictly in line with constitutional and other statutory safeguards for fair hearing and equality before the law won my heart.

Then the usual suspects like Gani Fawehinmi and Femi Falana didnt even take a day's break to look closely at the decision and began to cry their cliched fouls - then Segun Adeniyi and the Attorney-General began to speak from both sides of the mouth - and effectively the policy was withdrawn.

Knee-jerk responses are hardly the hallmark of enduring leadership. But yet again, if he had been slow to react, perhaps the cynics would go back to calling him 'baba go slow'?

It's really confusing.

I think it was easier when I just distrusted and consequently disrespected the former president - at least then it was easier to put it all up to bad faith. But with someone who shows such good faith as Yar'adua, what does one think?

Should We Take This Rubbish?!

So Ms. Iyanda asks a question:

"My question, are the youth and people of Nigeria so brow beaten and/or brain washed that they will accept this? Where are the voices of reason?"

You can read the story that led to that question HERE

And so I ask, added to the UTTER IGNORANT RUBBING that the pseudo-University called Covenant is imposing on the psyche of a generation trying to find a more enduring moral compass, is my generation going to take all this sh*t and just swallow it?!

Chude

P.s: Pls if anyone does see any comment on their blogs either today and perhaps yesterday, please disregard; someone has accessed my account (I think), and so I have changed the password.

What Manner of Man?

"Ironically, a flawed electoral process appears to have brought to power a man of integrity. "

The US State Dept, Aug 1, 2007

Mirrors my thoughts exactly.

I suspect President Umaru Yar'adua may turn out to be just what the doctor recommended.

I certainly hope so. The man makes me feel SO good as a Nigerian. SO good. For once, I actually feel a certain fondness for my President - a certain faith in him...

Death Kills...

A friend sent me a text first: 'Did you hear that Sam Famakinwa died mysteriously in the North?'

There was something altogether too melodramatic about the text so I didnt give it much thought - or maybe it was that, as usual, I couldn't come to terms with the capacity of death to just ... kill. Kill faith, kill hope, kill life as we know it..

Although I have written for Thisday for about five years now, I have only been to the offices about three times and therefore do not know a lot of the people who I deal with almost every week. Samuel Famakinwa (he is known as a business journalism guru) I had only met over the phone, but like I joke with my friends, he is (was) one of the few Thisday Editors that don't have what I call the Thisday 'You're On Your Own' syndrome.

For the past two editions of the Thisday Music Festival for instance, he has been the one responsible for us at RedSTRAT getting tickets - and this even when he knows us only be reputation. And so it was just a few weeks ago that my friends met with him, spoke with him, gisted with him at the Le Meridien where the crew of the Festival stayed. And one of us even had a post-event meeting scheduled with him. And now he's ...dead.

And it turns out that text wasn't melodramatic: it's really one hell of a mysterious death.

To get a fuller gist of everything, you might want to read Simon Kolawole's (another one without the 'OYO' syndrome) palpably teary-eyed narration. It is convoluted in Kolawole's usual way, but the passion and his sincerity, as usual, comes through effectively.

What do we say to Death?

Only "Shame on you! You have done your worst! Whether you like it or not, Samuel Famakinwa lived a full life - and he will be missed."

Chude

P.S 1: By the way, there's something quite 'iffy' about the response of Samuel's employer to his death as narrated by Simon Kolawole. I dont know ... maybe it's just me. Hear this:

"Immediately, I called my chairman, Mr. Nduka Obaigbena, to inform him. He was more than shocked. He was not aware Sam had travelled to Maiduguri. He asked me why I granted him casual leave in the first place." Huh?!

P.S 2: Speaking about death, something just died for me today. Something that should have died long ago actually. You know what they say: sometimes, one thing has to die for another to come to life... I'm sad, but I am more thankful for how free and light I finally feel ...

The David Mark Show!

N.B: The piece was a bit longer when I spent it, and of course my editor had to cut it down for space: but it made me look so much angrier! Ah well, I wrote it didn't I? Enjoy!

The David Mark Show!
By Chude Jideonwo, Airtime, Thisday 07.20.2007


It is understandable that, following the live transmission of the Third Term (they called it constitution review), Ken Nnamani turned out to be a hero: easily the most popular television personality at the time, whether by default or not. Before him, Justice Chukwudi Oputa had been the darling of the airwaves as he lorded it over the lawyers and witnesses at the delightful Oputa Panel, albeit with admirable charm. So, Mark wanted his day in the sun? Not so tall an ambition actually, er except for one little problem. Actually, there are two problems. First, the Senate President doesn’t have that star quality, which both Oputa and Nnamani were blessed with, even without knowing it. That combination of wit and charm is what TV producers call the X Factor. Actually, depth also helps. All of which our dear Senate President appeared to lack.

Indeed, with his village-square style of moderation, he came off looking jaded, obsolete, almost clownish, uninspired and ultimately uninspiring. Apart from that, television as a medium thrives on content. Put simply, there has to be a point to what it is you expect people to watch. With Ken Nnamani, it was very possible to revel in the personality of the Senate President whose candour was inspiring, refreshing and engaging all at the same time, added to the fact that we were being thoroughly educated as to the groundswell of issues surrounding the tenure elongation agenda, apart from being thoroughly informed about the groundswell of disgust at the prospects of a continued Obasanjo presidency. There was a point to it, there was something that viewers wanted to see. That’s the worldview Airtime keeps trying to communicate to producers: it’s not just about wanting to come on television - what do you have to put on? Television is supposed to inform, educate, entertain and since Oprah came on, it now has a fourth function- inspire.

The ministerial screening had the potential to incorporate all these elements to achieve good TV. But it turned out a failure. A bad TV show. Information? Education? Absent. Since the Senators had reasons as puerile as hunger (hunger!) for their failure to ask intelligent questions of the nominees. A female nominee, someone who might end up heading a sensitive Ministry was told to “bow and go”, simply because the senators were hungry! Add that to Senators standing up to vouch for nominees with such helpful detail as “she is a calm person” “he is the secretary of our great party, the largest party in Africa” if not the whole world, or “I have worked under her for many years” and “if she has raised four children, then she can hold a ministry”.

And as far as PR value goes, these guys would have been better off assigning the brief to the Buhari Campaign Organisation, believe me. The David Mark Show was horrible TV. It came off like we had assembled a cast for BBC Hard Talk, and instead we were confronted with Saturday Night Live. If I was Executive Producer of this show, and the national assembly was my cast I would fire the lot.

Randomly...

Okay, I owe myself the duty of updating you on the Segun Adeniyi, et al debate – whether you want it or not! Especially since Dele Sobowale chickened out and didn’t complete the series in his column yesterday and didn't even think it fit to apologise – see the man talking about personal integrity! For those who know how these things work, since Sobowale published Adio's rejoinder in his column, it is most probable with the threat of a law suit hanging over, the gladiators have reached a settlement … again, talk about double standards! Nothing more nauseating than people who start things they can't finish ...

Just before you lose faith, Waziri Adio’s rejoinder was published in three different papers, and it’s bottomline is refreshing: "He did not 'turn coat". It's a compelling piece. Which is just as well because those who know Mr. Adio call him one of the most decent men around.

***********************************************************************
Even though I had already made up my mind to break up my three-week laziness and go to church this Sunday, since I was sleeping over out-of-school anyway, I like to think that it was Linda Ikeji’s blog that made the decision for me. The power of writing. Of blogging.

At the time before the modelling celebrity’s blog became popular, when she was still requesting serially for readers, I had argued intensely with a fellow blogger about the seeming simple-mindedness of her blog and how she ‘says too much’ and I remember insisting that the pureness of heart displayed in that space would eventually make her popular in blogsville. Not only was I proved right, my friend is now one of her consistent readers.

Like someone else said recently, Linda’s honesty is intoxicating. For someone like myself who boasts of his openness and wakes up every morning telling myself ‘I am a good person with a good heart’, Linda’s blog gives me a new high to strive towards. She can load the blog with tiring fluff sometimes (!), but I unreservedly recommend Linda’s blog if you haven’t discovered it yet…It might just renew your hope in the human spirit.

***********************************************************************

Going to church - the Family Worship Center - on sunday was the best thing that could have happened to me. It's so long since I actually went to church and didnt hear something I could be cynical about. It was so refreshing and unexpected, that its impact still has me enveloped. It was a message on love -and it was so beautiful. SOmething that both Christians and non-Christians will learn from. I will buy the CD next and share some quotes.

It is exciting to know that you can go to church and actually learn something. Church can be so cliched and on auto-pilot these days. I always tell people how I ended up at Daystar. My mum had just 'released' me to leave MFM and go to any church of my choice, since I was so unhappy in the former, and I decided to go on a round of churches, that saw me going from This Present House through Redeemed and Fountain of Life, Christ Chapel etc to Daystar finally - where I actually began to look forward to church. With all the others, it was too cliched, and even where I am now, there are some days when I truly wonder...

The joke now is that before anyone can begin to insult my intelligence anyhow, the one hour service at Daystar will be over. It is cynical, but for me, going to church must mean something. It should. I cannot have faith in God in a vacuum: church must fuel that passion, fill a need - if all it does is turn me to a machine, then there's no point.

Ah well, sometimes, 'thinking too much' can be a curse. But being under Pastor Sarah's ministration on sunday renewed my faith in no small way, and I am most grateful to her.

*******************************************************************************

Was just kidding with my gf over the weekend about how she almost hates make up, and then it hit me that actually none of my ex-es used make-up, except for one maybe. And then the thought enlarged as I realized that most of the females in my generation, at least those I know (my generation defined as 18-32), don’t actually wear make-up. I know it is very possible I am either ‘behind time’ or completely off, since I am the last person to talk about issues of style!

But I suspect, especially after talking note of Thisday Style’s new column for young people yesterday, and seeing the marked difference between my generation and the rest, that I am right. And it makes me wonder: it does seem that our generation is minimalist … Moving from the big wigs and ball gowns of those before us, we on the other hand seem to insist that less is more. Like, generally, we don’t see any need to prove a point. Good or bad thing?

*********************************************************************************
Got back to school today and a small rumour had started about my whereabouts, that I am exploiting - and enjoying - to the fullest. I can't share it here, but I can't help but share my amusement in public! Oh, humans can be so shallow! I mean, me and them! Haha...

...And Dele Momodu!

Today, Ovation's Publisher, Dele Momodu, reminded me of the reasons many people were - and probably, still are! - disappointed when he left 'serious journalism' for photo-journalism (dont laugh!). Well, it appears Bob Dee is back! With his Pendulum column in Thisday.

I have taken excerpts for those of us who just want the gist in a nutshell...

"Yes, Obasanjo helped him into power. Yes, he wants to remain grateful and loyal. No problem. His mother and extended families have gone to see the Ora farmer to express their total gratitude. That should be enough. Obasanjo himself should realize as a Yorubaman that when we offer goats as sacrifice to Masquerades, we must drop the ropes. For as long as you hold the rope, the ram has not been given to the gods. Obasanjo’s inability to release the rope of power to Yar ‘Adua is heating up our polity again. All men and women of conscience must beg, or force, him to go home and rest in perpetual peace.

"Those of us who don’t appreciate his style are probably in the minority. And history may still be fair to him. He should, therefore, worry less about local politics, or village matters. He should allow his own people to enjoy their palm wine and their wives. He does not need to control the party to be relevant. In fact, it is very demeaning for an international superstar to become a local champion.

"In eight years, we did not get electricity, pipe borne water, good roads, good hospitals, good schools, adequate security, affordable foods, good transport, regular supply of fuel, or kerosene and many other necessities of life…

"We agree that he has a wealth of experience to share with us, but he can do that privately, and at the Council of State meetings. It is too dangerous to put him in the executive chair. Obasanjo is too combustive to sit still at public functions with the President. He will always make Yar ‘Adua feel like his houseboy and may not even allow him to express his personal or official views. The gentleman will always feel intimidated by Obasanjo’s larger than life image.

"President Yar ‘Adua seems a nice and honest man but that alone cannot take him to the promised land."

But of course, you can read the full piece HERE

The piece is titled: Why Yar'adua Must Confront Obasanjo

You Need To Read These!!

Wow. The danger with rejoinders is that, rather than listen to your voice, people will always go find out what originally happened. I had last week or so raised issues with how soon former Thisday Editor, Segun Adeniyi had 'turned coat' when he reached government, and till now it rankles me, I have to confess.

Then yesterday, he made the mistake of actually reacting to that very issue, and for those who know the issues involved and have access to facts to which he made mention, his piece only rang hollow. I therefore decided to go read the original piece that prompted his passionate denial.

And wow! It was explosive! Wow! Wow! Wow!

Read Dele Sobowale's original piece HERE,

and the sad rejoinder HERE

This much I will say, any journalist who whilst his perspectives were untainted spoke a certain way and then turns around when he's in government to scream 'Oh I have now seen the light' is a disgrace, and I use that word with all responsibility. What it means, and the fact they keep missing, is that for the past years that they were journalists: they were misinformed, ignorant, and misguided. Ultimately discredited.

Thankfully, there are one or two such journalists-now-in-government who have been able to maintain their integrity and good sense.

The fact is: if you want to 'turn coat', we understand the job of journalism doesn't pay yes and you need to 'move up in life', so turn coat and keep quiet about it. No one is a fool. It makes me so ashamed sometimes to be part of the media.

The weeks ahead will be explosive, and you NEED to buy Vanguard next week, because Dele Sobowale is going to face the President's spokesman FRONTALLY. I love it!

P.S: Based on the first comment I just received now, it makes sense to state that the word 'turn coat' is used loosely, in the reasonable assumption that folks would actually read the two pieces (or at least one!) and then understand the context in which it is being used. It would make any comments on this post informed at the very least.

Tagged! Seven Things ...

I was tagged by Jeremy, and would say I thank him for it: I had fun.

Seven Things ...

I wake up every morning and tell myself – I am good person, and I am given to depth. Every morning. It's actually a challenge to self.

I swear by Vanity Fair, Oprah, and Desperate Housewives; and my all time favourite TV shows – Forever Eden, Paradise Hotel, The Practice, Jenny Jones, Tightrope (Nigerian) – are sadly off the air.

I think four of the things that the enlightened world is most hypocritical about are pornography, female orgasms, sexual monogamy and masturbation.

I am a good listener and I look forward to criticism – in turn I am irritated by people who don’t listen. I have many of them as friends. I call it a testimony to my incredible spirit of accommodation that they still are!

I believe that under the right conditions, the human being is capable of anything. Of defacating in an open place after a hurricane (New Orleans), of diverting mosquito nets meant for babies to protect cattle in the midst of a famine (Uganda) and to scoop oil at the risk of being burnt alive to stave off poverty (Lagos, Nigeria). That having been said, I don’t think I could ever deliberately take the life of another person – no matter what.

The only thing I hate more than the hypocritical are the self-righteous.

I’ve only been in love once in my life – and I’m scared it might not happen again.

And I am tagging:
Gbolahan!
Exschoolnerd!
Msminx!
Tolu!
Mystories!

What Desmond Tutu Said …

The older I get, the more I learn not to judge a book by its cover. Like many, I rever Archbishop Desmond Tutu, but consider him a boring interview subject, and when you tell me that his interviewer comes in the irritating robes of Brad Pitt, you turn me completely off. But then this is Vanity Fair, and with VF, I read every article. And I am glad for that. Here I take two responses from the interview (in this month’s spectacular – no matter what the critics, who haven't even read it(!), say – Africa Issue) that almost knocked me off with their profundity: they are not novel insights by any means, but what struck me is the force and beauty of the restatements:

Brad Pitt: So certainly, discrimination has no place in Christianity. There’s a big argument going on in America now, on gay rights and equality.
Desmond Tutu: For me, I couldn’t ever keep quiet. I come from a situation where for a very long time people were discriminated against, made to suffer for something about which they could do nothing - their ethnicity. We were made to suffer because we were not white. Then, for a very long time in our church, we didn’t ordain women, and we were pernalizing a huge section of humanity for something about which they could do nothing – their gender. And I’m glad that now the church has changed all that. I’m glad that apartheid has ended. I could not for the part of me be able to keep quiet, because people were being penalized, ostracized, treated as if they were less than human, because of something they could do nothing to change – their sexual orientation. For me, I can’t imagine the Lord that I worship, this Jesus Christ, actually concurring with the persecution of a minority that is already being persecuted… Our church, the Anglican Church, is experiencing a very, very serious crisis. It is all to do with human sexuality,. I think God is weeping. He is weeping that we should be spending so much energy, time, resources on this subject at a time when the world is aching.

Brad Pitt:… You said about apartheid, that is was operated on the principles of exclusion. I can’t help but think that the same thing is going on with our trade rules.
Desmond Tutu: We have the capacity to feed everybody on our planet. We have the capacity to ensure that everybody has clean water. We have the capacity to ensure that everybody has affordable health care. We can prevent many of the diseases to which our children in the poorer parts of the world succumb. For goodness’ sake, why don’t we wake up to the fact that you can’t have an apartheid security? You can’t have apartheid prosperity. If you are going to have security, it’s going to be security for all. If you are going to have prosperity, it is going to be prosperity for all. If you want to be free, you can’t have a quarantine freedom. It’s going to be freedom for all. And if you want to be human, we are not going to be able to be human in isolation; it will be that we are human together. (Emphasis mine)

(c) Vanity Fair

Bell is One!!

I can NOT believe that Bella Naija's blog is only just a year old.

It's amazing - but you need to check her blog out now (if you havent already!) and get all the details from her. "You'd have to admit that Nigerian blogging took a new, fun, edgy, classy, entertaining, lovely {I can go on} direction when Bella started blogging."


Bella made me start blogging; she made me even AWARE of blogs - and she does FANTASTIC work. She also has such an amazingly good heart.

Many people are proud of her - and I am happy to join the roll call!

Chude.

P.S: Oh i see Jeremy has tagged me on Naijablog... gimme a minute!

The Blogsville Idol - See me o!!!

Oh I MUST apologise to my people, Pink-Satin etc who asked me to publicise the Blog Idols thingie ... that was the insane period I wasnt updating, and then I FORGOT!!! I'm just remembering now as I visit Idemmili's blog - how can Idemmili be in a competition, and I am NOT rooting for her!!!!!

So, please guys, participate in the Blogsville Idol competition - vote, vote, vote!!!!

President Yar'Adua and ... trouble!

hey people!





I am back in the village of Bwari, back to burying my head in law books, so you might not be seeing me for long periods (even if its just to prtend that I'm serious abi?!). However, this phase is ending in August by His Grace, so it's really nothing.

Will be posting any articles of mine that are in the papers and any other bit and piece I can - and will try to update the diary.

Meanwhile, this trouble I have to look for since I have two - three, in fact - raging opinions I have to share:

First, I think Yar'Adua messed up big time!!! I was already beginning to feel soothed by his approach after being raped for years under OBJ - but Yar'Adua ripped open that sore again with his puerile strategy. This more than anything is what proves that he is not his own man ... yes, he probably wanted to prove he also, like OBJ, cannot be pushed around, but therein - in not being able to insist on doing things your own tested and trusted way - lies the real weakness .

FOllowing that, my fears over my Big Bros, Segun Adeniyi, didnt even take a month to develop. His article in the papers last week was just WRONG. DOes something happen to them when they get to tht Aso Rock?!?! How come the same Segun Adeniyi who once advised government spokesmen that attacking journalists is never a wise approach, now turn around to do justr that?!?! He was a columnist just under a month ago!!! And his new job as Special Assistant, Media is about his boss, not about him ... he shouldnt do this to himself - and to us.

Also, there's this girl who contributes to the Arts pages of Thisday on Sunday, Joy Bewaji - who basically spends time lambasting other columnists (yeah, that has included me, so no wonder I am being sarcastic!lol) - but this time she was actually in a rare moment, praising someone, only it turned out ALL WRONG. I had said I would NOT comment on the Cest La Vie fiasco, afterall the storm has passed and Aunty Betty is a role model - but that doesnt mean that someone should try and pull wool over our eyes! What Aunty Betty wrote was wrong on SO many other levels I can't mention now. She has apologised and that is big of her, even though we do not know again, like Jeremy said, if the problem was 'editorial slip' or 'production mix-up' - for whatever it was she apologised, she was wrong, she made a mistake she shouldnt have - she's only human. Ka chineke mezi okwu.

But for this Joy girl to now say she did NOTHING wrong (you can check last sunday's paper on thisdayonline.com) simply because all her other articles have been 'inspiring'?! Just because she has done this and that? See, the world's biggest hypocricies have collapsed by just one Freudian slip such as this, and while I am not saying that is the case here (I have no right to make such judgements - at least not in public) I am just asking that no one should insult my intelligence.

Aunty did wrong. Aunty hurt another woman. Aunty pissed others off. Aunty apologised. We hope Aunty doesnt do this again. These are the material facts - let no one try to conflate them please.

How was your week?

Thanks A LOT for leaving comments even when I take soooooooooooooo long to reply them ...

Cheers,
Chude

p.s: my friend jude dibia, is doing a really creative thing for his new book, getting two brilliant spunky WOMEN, Mobolaji Adenubi (those in Nigeria's writing community know her)and Nonye Bethel to discuss his new book, Unbridled - which he wrote in a fmale narrative voice ..... It's from 2-4pm at the Terra Kulture this saturday ... Jude will be signing books I suppose! To see a blog-review of the book, cheack Adaure's blog. Cheers

So, WHAT EXACTLY Have I Been Up To, Right?

(The GIST Edition!!!)

Hmm. Na wayas. Na real, real wayas. I tire ... I have been under the greatest stress in the past few weeks it is incredible.

So I’m sure a lot of you have been wondering what exactly the drama has been about my not being able to update an ‘ordinary’ blog. But I have really, really been swamped. To avoid boring you and myself, I will just run over the larger details.

First the main gist some of you have been waiting for: it’s not really a big deal; y’all know I was crazy about Omawunmi and campaigned seriously for her to win Idols – which she lost. A magazine commissioned me to do an interview with her immediately after, and she was basically … em … well, rude. It struck me that she must see herself as on the celebrity par with perhaps an Omotola?

‘Luckily’ for me, the major mag I write for also commissioned me to interview her and this time she couldn’t say no (she then agreed to do the other one too – so I had to get someone else to interview her for that magazine) – and at the venue of the interview, she was just all over the place, with attitude. However, fortunately, all that fire transforms to warmth when you eventually get to know her. She is just, well, ‘real’. A little too real maybe. But she will definitely go far.

The day after that interview, had another interview for our column in the Guardian with the AMBO winner, ‘Mr. Cute’ OC. Really brilliant young man whose interview was a pleasant surprise since I have low opinions of the show – but he is evidently on a higher plane in terms of character, personality and intelligence. After the interview, one had to rush off again for the launch of the magazine I spoke about some time ago (thanks Bella for the link on your blog) which I interviewed Genevieve for, MADE.

It’s THE men’s magazine – just a little more twitching, a little more style, dots on the I’s and that magazine will become for men what True Love has seriously become for women. At the time they commissioned me to do their two cover stories, I knew the guys meant business, but I still had my doubts – right now, after seeing the magazine, I am SO proud to be associated with it. So proud. You can check out sneak previews on mademags.com

The next day was a very dramatic one that saw me on an Okada ride to the airport, which would have ALMOST made me a guest of the now former First Lady of Cross River, Onari Duke. However, I missed the flight by minutes … suffice to say it was very disappointing since I had been pursuing the woman for that interview for at least 6 months! I will actually do a separate post about the events leading to and on that day because it was really a day of drama!

The next day, our company RedSTRAT organized our quarterly talk-and-network session for upwardly mobile young people at SixDegreesNorth (special thanks to Louise Priddy and others like Saheeto, who supported), and I already put up some pictures of that here. It was MEGA-fun.

All through the week however, it was interviews upon interviews and an unending race against deadlines, which I inevitably lost seeing as I was trying to finish up copies for FOUR magazines at the same time! I have tied up the most important one thanks be to the Most High God, almost wrapped up on the next and should be through with the final two by Monday.

Amidst of all these me and my guys at RedSTRAT had to also work on producing Patito’s Guys, our show which is a youth version of Prof. Pat Utomi’s show, Patito’s Gang. We were recording two episodes – all the stress finally paid off however on that day (including an averted wardrobe disaster for me, thanks to our friend Muyiwa Osindero of Clothesense) as our guests, including Tara (Fela Durotoye), Ebuka (Obi-Uchendu), Modupe Adefeso, Shina Oyetayo, Ruonah Agbroko and others made the day so much fun. Tara especially is a delight to be with any day, and since she has her head buried in the sand of business most of the time, it fell on me and my big mouth to fill her in on all the latest gossip.

Even better, after the recording, Ebuka joined myself, Bola, Emilia, Ruonah and my new gf (yes, I did also manage to start a new relationship in the midest of all the madness, and that will be all on the subject, people!) to see a movie. I arm twisted everyone to be ‘patriotic’ and go see Irapada - a decision that haunted me throughout the duration of the movie. Now I will have to tread carefully here: Kunle Afolayan is a brilliant young man, and a hardworking filmmaker – but that wasn’t his best work AT ALL. The movie was PAINFUL to watch. And a huge disappointment for me. Have you ever had the experience where a movie snaps you of your energy? It’s weird. We just had to keep heckling and laughing at the many faults to get through it – and that actually turned out making the night very memorable! (However, I must say that the directing of the movie was top-notch ... there were some really beautiful and creative shots - at the river, on the rail tracks, travelling ... that at least was good stuff.)

Coming out of that, I was called upon to help the phenomenal Mo Abudu with a section of the guest-list for her wave-making everyone’s-talking-about-it show, Moments with Mo. I have always heard of Mo and admired her spirit from afar, but to meet her up close was even better. It was also a pleasant surprise to find out that she had found out quite a lot about me (oh vanity upon vanities – I just had to throw that in, yes yes I know!). And no I am not working for her … yet. Because of Law School. But I am certainly considering it, and it was a pleasure to be of help to the show. I didn’t stay for the recording, just dropping in to make sure my guests were alright – but I was mighty impressed; everything was so professional. That show is going to be brilliant. (Though I must apologise to those I invited for the tackiness with handling the audience – I was only asked to help).

Then it was back to the deadlines! The deadlines have taken over my life! My gf is already complaining (not that scares me). But it’s all for a reason – have to do as much as I can since I can do little or nothing when I am back in Law School.

As if the deadlines are not enough trouble, RedTSRAT had THE meeting last two weeks when we formally kicked off the process towards The Future… Awards 2008. And in such a short time, we’ve already gone far – I’m so proud of us!!!!lol People are shocked at how early we are kick starting and generally impressed and that’s funny cos I actually say we’re startying late. Just be guaranteed of this, you haven’t seen anything like what we will be presenting this time by (His grace)! Speaking of something you haven’t seen before, Tara is cooking something so hot it will burn when it’s eventually done! We’re a part of that, and I’m excited about it. Tara’s an inspiration for me anytime, and anything to do with her is always a delight. Between that project and The Future… Awards 2008, there’s enough work to last a weary soul!

In between all of that my parents had a ghastly accident that has left my father in the hospital with my mum barely escaping – don’t worry they’re okay now. My father’s legs are the only issue now and so it is well, we praise God. Only that I have to shuttle between home and the hospital these days in a way that only adds to my stress. (Don’t want to say a lot about it really. Just would look weird to those who know me if I didn’t mention it and since I am one of those people who care what people think….)

And there are still those dreaded deadlines… I have three interviews for instance scheduled for tomorrow … (Sigh). All the time crunch and deadlines have already made me piss off quite a couple of friends (even though it pissed me off when people can’t be perceptive and understanding).

I can’t wait to return to Abuja next week. Those who remember how happy I was to have left Abuja two months ago would be surprised, right? Well that shows the depth of my stress. I really need a break from it all.

Make no mistake though, I love the stress. A life without the kind of adrenaline-pumping, gratifying stress that is my life would be worse than living in solitary confinement. What can I say?!